Citadels can't build basic infantry fast enough to credibly defend themselves and also build jumpmissiles.

Basic infantry are too weak for citadels to spend labor on under the current ground combat model. Basic infantry are not intrinsically cost-inefficient, but they are labor- (rather than resource-) intensive for their strength and citadels have to be extremely efficient about how labor is used.

I suggest that either

a) citadels be able to build armored infantry if they can import from an infantry autofac, or

b) citadels be able to build a unique ground unit that is immobile or too massive to be used effectively as an attacker (to keep citadels from doubling as infantry autofacs), but that is better able to repel an invasion.

My thought was that citadels should build giant combat robots that use the light missile launcher component, since citadels already import from jumpship autofacs. This would create interesting interactions since there are no missile-equipped infantry and basic infantry have missile protection defined (but it doesn't do anything right now). If citadel defense robots were unusually vulnerable to basic infantry, then basic infantry would be occasionally useful even for empires that can build "better" infantry types. This ties in with my suggestion to reimplement planetary defense bonuses.

montressorempire74 3 May 2015:

So in essence, have citadels be able to make an immovable missile thing thats like a planetary defense but counts towards ground defenses?

A strong infantry unit that can't be put in transports, built only by the citadel structure. It wouldn't participate in space combat. I'm imagining something that would be better than exotroops from a cost/production standpoint and would not require chronimium.

Right now all infantry use cannon-type attacks against one another. A heavily armored, medium-to-high damage missile unit would be very effective against armored and exotroops but impotent against basic infantry, since basic infantry have a currently-unused missile defense attribute. Citadels should retain the ability to build basic infantry. Citadels defended by missile robots + basic infantry would be tough nuts to crack, but there would always be a tradeoff between strong defense and jumpmissile production.

If exporting infantry with trade routes gets implemented, it might need to be disabled for citadels so that players can't continuously ship advanced troop types to or from them; planets defended by armored/exotroops AND missile robots would be impregnable.

ResourceType core.tankDestroyer
{
category: groundUnit
name: "tank destroyer mech"
attackValue: {???} // I don't know the equation to calculate this
mass: 100.0
halfLife: 8.0
elementCount: 1000 // make this 5000, like other units, if it affects combat mechanically

attack: { name:"guided missile" damage:20 type:missile range:0.0 area:0.1 }
defense: { armor:80 minArea:10.0 }

production: {
workUnits: 1000.0
inputs: (
{ type:core.lightMissileLauncher amount:1.0 }
{ type:core.hexacarbide amount:10.0}
)
minTechLevel: 7
}
}

Trait core.citadelComplex {
name: "citadel complex"
category: industry
role: citadelIndustry

production: (
core.infantry
core.tankDestroyer
core.jumpmissilePartisan
)

defaultAlloc: { alloc:max }
designationOnly: true
workingConditions: 7
}